Recently, there have come on the market lens-fitted photographic film units which have a roll of film and a simple exposure mechanism incorporated in a casing as a unit. Because such a lens-fitted photographic film unit can be sold wherever photographic film is sold, if one takes no camera along but wants to take pictures, it is easy and inexpensive to buy a new lens-fitted photographic film unit and to take pictures without a camera.
For the purpose of lowering the cost, a simple shutter is used to give a single shutter speed such as 1/100 sec. On the other hand, the film used in such a lens-fitted photographic film unit has a relatively wide range of latitude of exposure. Although with such a single-speed shutter, it is relatively hard to cover a wide range of brightness of objects, recent photofinishing techniques nevertheless allow finishing prints with proper density.
However, it is often hard to finish prints of objects with too low brightness. In view of this, the present invention proposes to use an electronic flash with the lens-fitted photographic film unit to provide a wider range of exposure.
Almost all amateur cameras now on the market have so-called hot shoes comprising a standardized accessory shoe and an X-contact to which a hot shoe connection of an electronic flash can be attached. On the other hand, conventional electronic flashes, which are usable many thousands of times, are expensive. If in fact one takes no camera along but wants to take pictures, it is expensive to get a new flash at the place visited, even though it is possible to get a lens-fitted photographic film unit which is comparable in cost to conventional rolls of film. Even if the cost can be ignored, it is often hard to find a camera shop in the vicinity.